1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a method of severing a band which encloses a blank stack, wherein the band, preferably in the region of a band station, is severed by a cutting means, in particular a knife, and is then removed from the blank stack. The invention also relates to a corresponding apparatus, in particular for implementing the aforementioned method, for severing a band which encloses a blank stack, having a band station in which the blank stack rests on its underside on an underlying surface, in particular a platform, and in which the band can be severed by a cutting means, in particular a knife.
2. Prior Art
Blanks for producing packs made of (thin) cardboard, in particular for producing hinge-lid boxes (hinge-lid packs) for cigarettes, are prefabricated, usually in a cardboard-box factory and supplied as a blank stack. In order to safeguard the formation of the blank stack, it is often common practice to provide the blank stack with a strip-like enclosing band made of paper, foil or the like. In the region of the packaging machine, the band then has to be severed and disposed of, in order for it to be possible for the band-free blank stack to be transferred to the packaging machine, in particular to a blank magazine of the same, for further processing.
A method and an apparatus of the type mentioned in the introduction are known, for example, from the applicant's EP 0 706 946 B1 and have proven successful, in principle, in practice.